The embodiments herein relate generally to awning devices for use with vehicles.
Vehicles are often driven to locations where individuals desire protection from the sun, rain, snow, dust or other environmental elements. In these outdoor environments, awnings or canopies are typically assembled and secured to the vehicle to protect users from these environmental elements. Several awning devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,876,189, 8,839,839, 8,752,606, 8,607,845, 8,387,639 and 6,782,936. However, these awning devices are limited because they either comprise bulky components, additional moving components such as support legs that require an adjustment to contact the ground, or complicated components such as motors, gears or rollers to operate, which are subject to premature wear and/or high maintenance or operating costs. In addition, these awning devices do not efficiently disassemble to store the components.
As such, there is a need in the industry for a retractable vehicular awning apparatus with enhanced durability and storage ability, which overcomes the limitations of the prior art.